Anne Boleyn
Anne Boleyn is one of the main characters of The Other Boleyn Girl, and was based on the real historical figure of Queen Anne Boleyn. In the Tudor series, she is the older daughter of Sir Thomas and Lady Elizabeth Boleyn, the younger sister of George Boleyn, the older sister of Mary Boleyn, and the second wife of Henry VIII. During her ill-fated marriage to Henry, Anne gave birth to a daughter: Queen Elizabeth I of England. Anne was portrayed by Jodhi May in the 2003 television film adaption and by Natalie Portman in the 2008 theatrical film. The Other Boleyn Girl “I shall be dark and French and fashionable and difficult. And you shall be sweet and open and English and fair. What a pair we shall be! What man can resist us?” Anne's first appearance in the book is in the Spring of 1522. At age fifteen she returns to England from France. She is sophisticated and dresses and speaks in a French manner in order to attract attention in England. The Other Boleyn Girl (2003) In the BBC TV Movie Anne is portrayed very differently than in the book. She is shy and timid instead of confident and ambitious. The movie starts in the gardens of a castle with the three Boleyn siblings playing a game and laughing in merriment. We then are introduced to Anne and Mary , on their own, in a confessional like room where they talk directly to the camera. Mary reveals that she is married and hopes to have at least four children and Anne reveals that she is unmarried and wants to fall in love. The year is 1524, and at court things are becoming increasingly apparent that the Queen is desperate for a male heir as she starts to wear hair shirts, much to the Boleyn sisters’ amusement. The king barges into the Queen’s chambers and warmly invites the Queen to dinner before turning his attentions to the newly married Mary. Shortly afterwards in the palace’s gardens, George, Anne and Mary are gossiping when they are summoned to their father’s rooms at court. The Boleyn family, Thomas Howard and Mary's husband William Carey have gathered to tell Mary that the King has summoned her to his bed and she has no choice but to go. Later that night, Anne helps a tearful Mary prepare for her night with the king. While at court, Anne begins a relationship with Henry Percy. During one of their meetings, they are interrupted by Mary Boleyn. Anne hurriedly follows after her sister and enquires about her night with the King. Anne then confesses about her romance with Henry Percy although Mary states that any romance between them is impossible. Despite Mary's warning, Anne and Henry become betrothed in secret and are discovered in bed together by Mary. Mary tells the rest of the family and a family meeting is called. Anne tearfully tries to defend her marriage but her family renounce the betrothal and banish Anne to Hever Castle. The Other Boleyn Girl (2008) The movie starts with Thomas and Elizabeth Boleyn strolling through the woodlands around Hever castle with their three young children. Thomas tells Elizabeth that the Carey family asked for Anne to be married to their son William but instead he chose gave them Mary. Thomas' reason for this is that he believes that Anne could "do much better than a merchant's son". The movie moves forwards to the day of Mary's wedding to William Carey. Anne and George decide to visit Mary as she dresses for her wedding. Anne is happy for her younger sister even though claims to be eclipsed by her. After the wedding there are wedding celebrations with a feast and dancing where Anne catches the eye of Henry Percy. George teases Anne that she is only interested in him because of his titles and wealth to which Anne playfully replies "I simply like his face". George also points out that Percy is engaged but that doesn't trouble Anne. Later that night Anne helps Mary prepare for her wedding night. Anne thinks she has failed as an older sister because she can't give Mary any advice about sex or marriage because she is unmarried although Mary tries to reassure her. After leaving Mary for the night, Anne is summoned to meet with her father and her uncle Thomas Howard. They offer her the chance to be mistress to King Henry VIII. Initially she is appalled but she quickly agrees when she sees the benefits of being a royal mistress.The next day, the sisters spend time together and gossip. Mary tells Anne about her wedding night and William's bad habits to which Anne laughs and Anne tells Mary about her mission to charm the king during his stay at Hever castle. When the king does arrive at Hever, Anne is introduced to him and is sat besides him at the dinner table where they make small talk under Thomas Howard's intense observation. That night Anne's father tells her how well she has done and that she must do well during the hunt the next day. Anne takes his advice very seriously. The next day the guests and courtiers go for a hunt and Anne leads the hunt eager to please the king. During the hunt the king falls from his horse and was injured much to Anne's dismay. Because of the King's injury, Anne is scolded by her family and Mary is used to seduce the king instead. Personality In the beginning, Anne was portrayed as an arrogant, but elegant and graceful young woman who loved her siblings dearly, though her relationship with Mary was occasionally strained due to the friendly rivalry between them. She delighted in all things French, and was described by Mary to be "a courtier beyond all others", for her remarkable powers of observation and flirtation enabled her to quickly turn a situation to her advantage, as well as to manipulate her targets into being compliant with her wishes. In fact, when Mary became the King's mistress, Anne was responsible for helping her to preserve his affections, though she made no secret of her jealousy and resentment over her younger sister becoming the center of the court. However, after her failed marriage to Henry Percy, Anne's nature took a turn for the worse: after she herself became the King's mistress when Mary lost favour, Anne became so consumed by greed and ambition that she was willing to go to any lengths to become the Queen of England. Her selfishness caused her already tumultuous relationship with Mary to deteriorate rapidly, and her ruthless determined desire for power and wealth brought about either the death or disgrace of numerous personages who were held in high esteem by all in England. Her flirtatious behaviour also became such that even her own brother, George, commented that she should learn not to be so sensual, especially in public. In the midst of all this, Mary - as Anne's constant companion - was still able to see that her older sister was increasingly unhappy: behind closed doors, Mary could see the toll taken on Anne's physical and mental well-being, and despite her apparent lack of concern for those whom she had hurt to achieve her goals or the opinions of others, an instance with their brother made Mary realise that Anne was, deep down, ashamed of the woman she had grown to be - "a woman who had learned to throw everything, even her mortal soul, into the battle to become Queen". One constant feature of Anne would be her bad temper, which she struggled to keep in check: she could fly into a terrible rage over any perceived slight, and in her anger, she would be utterly rude and disrespectful to anyone, even the King, which only worsened her unpopularity and made the contrast between her and Queen Katherine of Aragon all the more disadvantageous in her favour. In fact, her temper was most possibly one of the main reasons why the King eventually fell out of love with her, especially after she failed numerous times to give him a strong healthy son, and Anne only realised this too late. Besides this, Anne was also easily inclined to be vain and jealous - she took especial pleasure in constantly reminding Mary that she was the wittier, more beautiful, and infinitely more prosperous of the two of them, and Mary also observed that Anne "could always be comforted by the sight of her beauty" and she took pride in her razor-sharp intelligence, though she could still be envious of those who were born to far better privileges and had received an infinitely better education than she had, such as the Princess Mary (Henry's and Katherine's only surviving child). Before Henry forcefully sent Katherine away, Anne never missed an opportunity of shaming, or humiliating, or insulting her, and delighted in flaunting her youth, beauty, and exotic tastes of French fashion to the aging Queen. In fact, even after Katherine was deposed and forced to live in poverty and hardship, Anne still regarded her as one of her deadliest enemies, and even made the Princess Mary wait on Elizabeth as a lady-in-waiting, which demonstrates a truly cruel streak to her jealousy. It was also this very jealousy that caused her to banish Mary from court when she learned of her secret marriage to William Stafford, for she was heartbroken that her younger sister managed to marry for love, while she was alone and increasingly unhappy despite being the Queen of England. However, Anne was not an entirely unfeeling character. Though her relationship with Mary was always strained by the unfavourable circumstances they found themselves trapped in, and there was always a sense of "the other must be bested" between them, it remained an indisputable unchangeable fact that Anne viewed Mary as one of the only two true friends she had, and come what may, she would always need her emotionally. George had never lost her love and favour as well, despite his increasing lapse into bad behaviour after she became Queen, and Mary once observed that Anne truly cared about what their brother felt. Though she was, most understandably, disappointed when Elizabeth turned out to be a daughter instead of the longed-for son, Anne still grew to love her. She also occasionally expressed feelings of frustration and loneliness throughout her campaign to become Queen - suggesting she may have secretly regretted her actions and longed to have an ordinary husband she married for love. Appearance In the Tudor series, Anne was described to be an exotically beautiful and infinitely sensuous woman: a wealth of glossy black hair that was "as dark and glossy as a racehorse's mane", a perfectly pale complexion, an hourglass figure comprising of full breasts and slim waist, and a face "as lovely as if it was carved from ice" - ''a long nose, brown eyes, and a knowing seductive half-smile. Due to her taste for French fashions, she was always dressed in a truly stylish but virile manner that set off her beauty to full advantage, and knew how to carry herself as if she was ''"the greatest Queen that had ever been born". Relationships Mary Boleyn: "I was born to be your rival. And you mine. We're sisters, aren't we?" Anne has a complicated relationship with her sister. Anne does appear to love Mary and is even kind to her on a number of occasions, but she is also jealous of her and regards as her rival. Anne says that as Mary's sister, she was "born to be her rival". Anne can be quite cruel to Mary, belittling her and trying to upstage her, and using her to further their family's ambitions with little thought for her feelings or desires.Their relationship becomes strained when Anne tries, and succeeds, in stealing King Henry away from her. Things become worse still when Anne takes away Mary's son. Anne is furious with Mary when she learns that she has married William Stafford with her permission, slapping her, calling her a whore and banishing her. She even threatens to tell Mary's son that she is dead and forbid her from ever seeing him, knowing how much Mary loves her children. In spite of this, Anne does have some affection for Mary. She eventually allows her to return to court and insists that she "needs" Mary's help and support. Mary describes Anne as being her "dark mirror" - even though they are complete opposites and do not always see eye to eye, they still need each other. Historical Figure Anne Boleyn was the daughter of Sir Thomas Boleyn and Lady Elizabeth Boleyn. Quotes "Every woman has to have something which singles her out, which catches the eyes, which makes her the center of attention. I am going to be French.” "One Boleyn girl or the other. We might either of us be Queen of England and yet we'll always be nothing to our family." Trivia * In the novels, Anne pointedly plays upon her French tastes to distinguish herself from the other ladies at court. She adopts a French accent when it suited her, and always wore French fashions. Neither of the film adaptations featured a French accent, but The Other Boleyn Girl (2008) did portray Anne wearing French fashions. * In the novels, Anne is a year older than Mary, but four years younger than George. * Despite being portrayed as Mary's older sister, in real life Mary was the eldest of the Boleyn siblings. Category:Characters Category:Female Characters Category:Queens Category:Tudor Characters Category:Historical figures Category:English characters Category:Executed characters Category:Mistresses Category:House of Tudor Category:Deceased characters